Joe's Miserable Life

Started by Bizaron, Fri 20/10/2017 19:34:49

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Bizaron

Hi there!

I have recently finished a short adventure game called "Joe's Miserable Life." It's my second game created in AGS (my first game is completely in Czech, so I have no idea whether it has any point to post it).

The game is about an old sad man living alone in a small house, his whole life was pretty much a dull mess, his daughter died and his only friends are his dog and a toilet spider. This short game is about a life-changing misfortune.

The graphics was created in paint.net and gimp, sounds are from freesound.org and music is from incompetech.com, voice acting is included too. Although it was supposed to be a stand-alone game, I will most likely make it into a trilogy (I am slowly working on the second part now). I will be glad for any comments!

CLICK ON THIS TEXT TO VIEW THE GAME



I am a f***ed up individual creating weird ass things because that gives me a strange sense of satisfaction.

Kumpel

Just played it. It was ... disturbing 8-0

Oh jesus. A forum user's signature has never been so true (wtf)(wtf)(wtf)   (laugh)

Bizaron

Kumpel: Well, glad to hear that :-D
I am a f***ed up individual creating weird ass things because that gives me a strange sense of satisfaction.

SilverSpook

Nice art style! That eye on the chair there is very creepy.

Kumpel

LOL SilverSpook!

That's the "look" cursor :D

selmiak


lakerz

Bizaron - the download to Joe's Miserable Life may be corrupted at mediafile?  I've tried several times and each time I open up the file it says it can't recognize it.  Usually, .rar files give me no problem which makes me suspect there is an issue.

Peder 🚀


KyriakosCH

The pic does look miserable/bleak indeed :-D
I like miserable/bleak.
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Mandle

Wow! When the game started I thought "How disturbing could this really be?"....and then *gulp* I found out...

What's wrong with you, dude?! (laugh)

Seriously though:

A deliciously disturbing and quite horrifying glimpse into the cracked mind of a man on the edge.

The deadpan voicing was very appropriate for the character. I really believed in the emptiness inside him when he spoke.

The graphics and music worked perfectly together to create a gloomy, dreadful and, later on, gut-wrenching atmosphere. At points the graphics worked almost too well:

SPOILER ALERT:
Spoiler
Charlie's eyes in the final graphic we see of him... You either really put some imagination into that or... No, I won't even go there... I'll just assume you noted what happens to fish eyes and applied that here... (wtf)
[close]

While probably not for everyone I thought the game was a masterpiece with the mood of a short horror story that, once you read it, will stick in your memory for years to come.

One last touch I was expecting at the end that I felt would make the bleakness complete:

SPOILER ALERT:
Spoiler
I expected Joe to sit down on the toilet before... you know... as he said it was his favorite place. A brief glimpse of him sadly seated there afterwards may have been a powerful final image to leave the player with.
[close]

PS:

Spoiler
I also loved the way Joe refers to "a toilet-spider" as if that's an actual term in common useage. I don't know if it was intentional but that made me really feel he was a guy living an existence cut off from society and very used to just only the feedback loop of communicating with himself. Lovely touch either way: intentional or subliminal!
[close]

I CAN'T WAIT FOR MORE FROM YOU!!!

KyriakosCH

#10
Ok, I played/finished the game too. Very miserable and brutal! (nod)

Spoiler
The doll idea is excellent! I liked the "of course..." bit after he asked how he could use his body to feed the spider :=
[close]

Well done! Gfx are ugly, obviously, but they work fine with the overall nastyness of what is going on. Poor Joe...
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Kumpel


Creamy

I didn't like the game very much. Too bleak and gross for me. Tastes differ.
 

Shadow1000

Quote from: Creamy on Sun 12/11/2017 23:02:58
I didn't like the game very much. Too bleak and gross for me. Tastes differ.

Same for me. I found it disturbing rather than the experience of a good horror/thriller. It's not for everyone.

lakerz

Quote from: Peder on Sat 11/11/2017 00:05:05
You could try the AGS Archives link: https://www.agsarchives.com/game/59f7776b4f047349ff204076

Thank you kind sir.  Now I am able to participate in this incredibly disturbing game as well. :=

KyriakosCH

Quote from: Creamy on Sun 12/11/2017 23:02:58
I didn't like the game very much. Too bleak and gross for me. Tastes differ.

It needed some sauce? :=
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Bizaron

Wow, so many reactions, it seems that the game really worked the way I wanted it to. This really motivates me to create more stuff for you, thanks for all the support!!
I am a f***ed up individual creating weird ass things because that gives me a strange sense of satisfaction.

KyriakosCH

Ad a brief review i wrote for this game, in this thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48959.msg636576443#msg636576443


"Joe is not happy; and has reason to not be so. You could say his life lacks sauce. In reality, though, he has a few friends, including a spider and a speaking doll. He is resolved to find a way to help his friends, utilizing powers given to him by loved ones departed and thoroughly internalized".

:=
This is the Way - A dark allegory. My Twitter!  My Youtube!

Bizaron

Quote from: KyriakosCH on Sat 02/12/2017 15:02:40
Ad a brief review i wrote for this game, in this thread: http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=48959.msg636576443#msg636576443


"Joe is not happy; and has reason to not be so. You could say his life lacks sauce. In reality, though, he has a few friends, including a spider and a speaking doll. He is resolved to find a way to help his friends, utilizing powers given to him by loved ones departed and thoroughly internalized".

:=

Thanks for recommending my game, and a nice review :) Still working on the second part, with smaller and bigger pauses tho.
I am a f***ed up individual creating weird ass things because that gives me a strange sense of satisfaction.

Mandle

Congratulations are in order!

"Joe's Miserable Life" is now Pick Of The Month and so will be gaining wider exposure and freaking more people out! (laugh)

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